-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Two weeks into the U.S. government shutdown and , days before a potential default , president Barack Obama has made a last ditch attempt to restore credibility to the world 's largest economy .

In nominating Janet Yellen to chair the mighty Federal Reserve , the president has tried to soothe markets already roiled by Washington D.C. 's bickering .

Do investors care whether Yellen is a woman ? `` Of course not , '' I hear you cry . What they care about is whether she will print more , cheap money and keep rates low .

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But aside from her immediate leanings on quantitative easing , Yellen 's nomination is an important milestone for female representation in the world of monetary policy .

Why ? Because for the first time a woman is being entrusted with the value of not just any currency but the world 's most important reserve and trading currency .

Her actions will touch the lives of millions at home and abroad , giving patriarchal societies pause for thought .

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Women may not be allowed to vote in Saudi Arabia , for instance , but the country 's main export -- oil -- is priced in dollars . Men may dominate the financial sector but for the next four years they will have to hang on a woman 's every word .

Yet as influential as she may be , Yellen cuts a lonely figure in the global organogram of central banks , especially in Europe , where both the ECB and the Bank of England are currently bereft of girl power at the top of the tree .

A cursory glance at the Central Bank Directory shows just 12 of the world 's 160 central banks had female governors last year . That 's about 6 % . Such figures would not be acceptable on the board of your average listed firm .

Last year 15 % of directors at FTSE 100 companies were women while the EU is pushing for boards to raise that quota to 40 % by the end of the decade .

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Yellen is no ordinary women or economist . She is an extraordinarily experienced , trusted pair of hands who faces a formidable task ahead in trying to wean world markets off five years of basically free money .

But in elevating her to its helm , the Fed joins a woefully short list of national banks with female governors that includes not exactly influential countries like Belarus , the Kyrgyz Republic and Samoa .

Though her appointment still has to be approved Yellen 's promotion will make her arguably the second most powerful person in the United States .

If women can take on a mantle as big as that , surely it 's time they had more of a say in the clubby world of monetary policy .

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Janet Yellen has been nominated by President Obama to lead the Federal Reserve

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This would make her one of the most powerful women in the world

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But it also reveals how few female central bankers there are around the world